Great Ideas

Would the founding fathers have approved of Donald Trump? Probably not, says the panel in episode one of Great Ideas, a new RNZ podcast series in collaboration with Victoria University.Great Ideas is a series, recorded in collaboration with Victoria University, about the ideas that have changed the world. It looks at what it takes to change our perspective and considers why these ideas still matter.In this episode, RNZ's Megan Whelan is joined by Dr Xavier Marquez, Professor Simon Keller and Associate Professor Dolores Janiewski. They discuss revolutionary ideas like liberty, democracy and what a revolution actually is,and whether the United State's founding fathers would have approved of Donald Trump?"In order to have a revolution, you need to have some moral idea to drive it," Professor Keller says."That moral idea might be pretend, it might be that what drives the revolution isn't really liberty or equality or justice or rights, but something else."But you do need that kind of moral ideal. So, the thought that somehow there's some better future, waiting for you, if only you could get this government, or this idea or this ideology, or this class out."However, Professor Janiewski says there's always an element of power too."Thomas Jefferson, who wrote 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' was a slave owner, and was in debt."So some of his motivations were probably not about those words, but about personal issues, and the fact that they were unhappy having to defer to a power overseas."Are we currently in a technological revolution? Maybe in some ways, Dr Xavier Marquez says, but the importance of mass communication can be overstated."They spoke of the Facebook revolution in Egypt or the Twitter revolution in the Arab uprisings, and that's probably a bit overstated. They did play a role but it wasn't as direct or as clear as perhaps it was originally thought."But overthrowing an established system rarely comes easily, and what comes next is completely unpredictable, Professor Keller says. "One of the questions that I think you have to ask, when you're thinking about the morality of beginning or taking part in a revolution, is 'how sure are you that this revolution is throwing over a seriously unjust or otherwise horrible state."Are you sure enough to take the risk that what follows the revolution going to be something worse?'"Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Megan Whelan looks at how language shapes - and is shaped by - our understanding of the world, with Dr Sasha Calhoun, Professor Paul Warren and Associate Professor Stephen Epstein.What does it mean when something is 'lost in translation'? Why isn't there an English word for 'schadenfreude'?In part two of Great Ideas, Megan Whelan looks at how language shapes - and is shaped by - our understanding of the world."Schadenfreude may well have come into the English language because there wasn't a word that expressed that particular concept," Professor Paul Warren says."English, of course, is a very avid borrower of words from other languages. There's this strange idea that languages borrow from each other, I think English borrows but never gives back."Dr Sasha Calhoun says our need to express the things that are most important to us has a big part to play in what words come into being in different languages."Then the languages themselves get to work on what is expressed. But you can find all sorts of lovely examples."She cites an Australian Aboriginal word for the concept of sitting by a fire and rubbing the hands of the person next to you so both share in the warmth of the fire.So did language evolve from the need to express an idea like that, or simply from the need to warn others of hazards?"That's the 65-million dollar question," Dr Calhoun says. One theory is that language arrived alongside greater human cooperation."Particularly, the need for mothers to pass things along to their children."So the need to be able to teach methods and ways of living and ways of being in the world that were increasingly complex became something that mothers needed to pass on to children."It's also not just words, it's the sounds that make up words. Take, for example, words that are synonyms for 'small' - 'wee' and 'tiny' have similar sounds."I think every language studied has some form of onomatopoeia," Stephen Epstein says."But some languages, and where things get interesting is Korean, have what we might call 'memetic' words.""So they don't represent a sound, but they might represent something that you see."He says that in Korean words like "twinkle, sparkle and glitter" have different vowel sounds depending on the size or intensity.And then there's the question of what counts as a word - apocryphally, various languages from around the polar region have "50 words for snow"…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Megan Whelan look at how revolutions shape - and are shaped by - fashion, literature and the visual arts, with Dr David Maskill, Dr Margaret Medlyn and Dr James Meffan.Does the best creative work emerge in times of strife?In part three of Great Ideas, Megan Whelan looks at how revolutions shape - and are shaped by - fashion, literature and the visual arts.Participants: Dr David Maskill, Dr Margaret Medlyn and Dr James MeffanWhat is the artist's responsibility in a time of change?"We all need to be shown what it is to be human," Dr Margaret Medlyn says."Equally, for a stand-alone piece of art to break down accepted barriers and conformations of style, is an artist's duty."That's why an artist is an artist - to confront society and society's expectations."Medlyn cites Igor Stravinsky's 'Rite of Spring' - which caused a riot at its first performance - and Richard Wagner's 'Tristan and Isolde', which she describes as hypnotic, charming and timeless, but also unsettling and as portraying intense human emotion.Dr David Maskill struggles to think of any other artist who has been as embedded with a revolutionary cause as Jacques-Louis David.Maskill points to Jacques-Louis David's portrait of the assassination of French revolutionary politician Jean-Paul Marat."I think what David was trying to depict was the fundamental shift from a God-centred universe to a human one."That this political deputy could actually now be treated as a Christian martyr. And of course, at this precise moment, Christianity was outlawed. They changed the calendar so the birth of Christ was no longer the beginning of the calendar.""It was an attempt to wipe the slate of history clean."Revolutions happen in both content and form, Dr James Meffan says.He mentions the Nobel and Booker Prize-winning author JM Coetzee, who was criticised for not being "accessible"."Coetzee was going to have none of this. He saw the artist's responsibility to the art per se.""Someone described - in possibly the most backhanded attack on Coetzee's novel - that what he was offering was a coterie of modernist thinkers in South Africa some kind of masturbatory release.""While Rome was burning, there were these artists off gazing at their navels," Meffan says."That kind of tension endures in many situations, and I think the works of art that endure, pretty reliably, seem to be the ones that have been provocative in their manner of representation as much of what they represent."…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The Reformation has had a major influence on thought and ideas far and above its religious beginnings. Megan Whelan talks with Dr Geoff Troughton, Professor Kathryn Walls and Dr Derek Woodard-Lehman.In this episode, Megan Whelan is joined by Dr. Geoff Troughton; Professor Kathryn Walls; Dr. Derek Woodard-Lehman.2017 marks the 500th anniversary of the publication of Martin Luther's 95 Theses, which most people think marks the start of the Protestant Reformation.Luther's theses initiated a series a series of radical changes, first in the church, and later in society. The changes revolved around forms of authority and social relationships, and impacted much of the world."But I think one thing that's important to remember is the massive effect was belated, and in some ways unintended," says Dr Woodard-Lehman."Luther began as just an ordinary Augustinian monk who thought a couple of things weren't quite right with his community and its practices, and made what initially were rather humble and modest suggestions."But because of the way they were responded to, the reaction that they elicited, they wound up being revolutionary."There's this curious and contentious intersection between the religious and the political," says Dr Woodard-Lehman."So on the one hand, Luther is undertaking these reforms in his own Christian life... and at the same time in the political realm, there's a growing disease between the holy Roman Empire and the papacy and the local principalities."The debate about the role of tradition, the teaching of the church, the question of the bible, is a really important one; it's critical in Protestantism," says Dr Geoff Troughton.The idea of trusting the bible over the authority of the church is a big step, he says."It's a tremendously powerful affirmation of individual conscience, that flows off into much of what we think about as the grounds of modernity."Depending on how you want to tell the story," says Dr Woodard-Lehman, "either the reformation idea of the 'priest of all believers' either runs alongside, or even runs ahead of, the democratic idea of 'one person one vote."The Reformation also played a role in the modern notion of equality - if someone was equal in the eyes of God, shouldn't that mean they were equal elsewhere? "In later contexts we run into the same problem in the United States with chattel slavery, says Dr Woodard-Lehman. "Slave-holding religionists were very clear that baptising a slave did not change their political status. Of course, the religion of the slaves was very clear of the opposite." …Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

"Government of of the people, by the people, and for the people" - so goes Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. But does that describe 21st century democracy? "Government of of the people, by the people, and for the people" - so goes Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. But does that describe 21st century democracy?2016 caused many people to ask if democracy is the best form of government, or, if as Winston Churchill said, "the worst, except for all those other forms that have been tried."Megan Whelan leads a discussion about the Ancient Greek idea that led to the governments we have today.Participants: Megan Whelan, Professor Art Pomeroy; Emeritus Professor Nigel Roberts; Associate Professor Kate Hunter Modern democracy has its roots in ancient Athens, where on a hill over the city - the Pnyx - assemblies would meet to discuss things like going to war and safeguarding the food supply.The study of elections is often called Psephology."The word 'Psephos' comes from the Greek word for a pebble, and the Greeks used to vote by putting pebbles in a bowl" says Nigel Roberts. "And then they counted the number of pebbles."" can make any decision they like," says Art Pomeroy. "And what is quite interesting is that once a decision has been made, questioning a decision nowadays is sometimes labelled as anti-democratic."But the Athenians were smart enough, actually, to say 'No, that's part of a good democratic process'."Would the Athenians recognise modern-day parliamentary democracy as the evolution of their system?"I suspect, they would they would be tempted, at least initially, to think that no, this is some sort of strange government by the few," Art Pomeroy says. "Which in some ways, it is."But of course, not everyone was involved, even in Athenian democracy - only men over the age of eighteen could vote.New Zealand has been described as the world's oldest democracy, Nigel Roberts says. "In 1867, of course, Māori males got the vote, and 1867 to 1893, all men had the vote, and then in 1893 when you had female suffrage passed by Parliament, we then had universal adult suffrage."It was the first country in the world, men and women, black and white, indigenous and settlers, all having the vote."It took a long fight for women to be able to break through the idea that citizenship - and therefore voting right - was tied to military service. And Kate Hunter says it was a hard fight…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Charles Darwin's theories did not really 'come out of the blue'- there were others working with the same ideas and theories. Megan Whelan leads a discussion with Dr Rebecca Priestly, Associate Professor Joe Zuccarello and Professor Joe Bulbulia.This week, Megan Whelan is joined by Dr. Rebecca Priestley, Associate Professor Joe Zuccarello and Professor Joe Bulbulia.In 1835, Charles Darwin visited New Zealand and left with not a lot of love. "I don't know if he was tired and grumpy after a long voyage, but he was singularly unimpressed with New Zealand," says Rebecca Priestley.Darwin stayed with some missionaries, and wrote some nice things about the plantings in their gardens, but when he left, said "we are all pleased to leave New Zealand. It is not a pleasant place."Years later, in 1859, Darwin published On The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.New Zealand had left an impression though, because he did write about the country's species in Origin of Species. What he said was quite prescient, says Dr Priestley.Darwin wrote: "From the extraordinary manner in which European productions have recently spread over New Zealand, and have seized on places which must have been previously occupied, we must believe, that if all the animals and plants of Great Britain were set free in New Zealand, in the course of time a multitude of British forms would become thoroughly naturalized there, and would exterminate many of the natives."This was before rabbits, possums and stoats were introduced to New Zealand, Dr Priestley says, and that prediction has largely come true. The ideas in Origin of Species were formed on Darwin's expedition on the Beagle, but not published for 20 years."He did go off for a while and study barnacles in quite some depth," says Dr Priestley says, "and it seems that he was trying to some extent test out his theory.""I guess to some extent he wanted to be very sure of what he was saying because it was quite a remarkable thing."As the spirit of inquiry the reformation spawned grew, so too did scientific questioning."That questioning obviously increased once the church maybe lost a little bit of its power to control things" says Joe Zuccarello."Certainly, with the scientific method, and this diversity that came in ways of thinking...And I think it's that that drove our trying to understand the world."Two of the ideas in Origin of Species were controversial. The idea of common ancestors, and the idea of natural selection…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

In the first episode of Great Ideas season 2, Megan Whelan discusses the future of leisure with three experts from AUT. Once the robots have taken all of our jobs, what will we do with all that time?When was the last time you were bored?Nearly 100 years ago, British economist John Maynard Keynes predicted that by now, we'd all be working 15-hour weeks and the biggest crisis facing people would be what to do with their spare time. By the 1950s, modern conveniences promised to make life easier, yet most of us still work more than 40 hours a week.Now, sports and social club memberships are declining and most of us have a constant, nagging worry about how much time we spend staring at screens.Series two of Great Ideas, recorded in collaboration with Auckland University of Technology, looks at the ideas and trends shaping the future.In this episode, Megan Whelan discusses the future of leisure with three knowledgeable people from AUT: Dr Erik Landhuis, Professor Scott Duncan and Dr Sharyn Graham Davies."Our work is a lot more flexible now," says Dr Landhuis. "Yes, I do more work at home. I think one of the reasons we do more work at home and outside the normal work hours is because of the devices that we have.""When I walk around, I see how much time people spend on their devices. I went to the beach earlier this year and I saw three girls... all they were doing was taking pictures of themselves having fun, instead of actually having fun."People end up experiencing nature through a lens - the one on their phone, Scott Duncan says."I often say this will be the first generation we're raising which can unlock an iPad before they can walk."For many of us, what's missing in leisure time now - and will potentially diminish even more in the future - is movement and interaction with other people.Listening to music on your headphones is a very different experience to seeing an artist play live."Even things that were quite solitary, like going to a movie, there was something about that shared experience of looking at a screen and being in a room together that you don't get staring at a screen or with earphones on," says Sharyn Graham Davies."So even though the world is getting more populated and more crowded and people are living in cities and urban spaces... amidst all of that population we're cocooning ourselves in many ways."It's a matter of moderation and balance and making sure children, especially, get a chance to play in the mud and the rain as well as play with their devices, Scott Duncan says…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

This week, Great Ideas looks at how technology might impact the work that we do, where we do it, and how we survive when we can't work."If X = poop, do not clean," might be the future of house cleaning. How else to stop your robot vacuum cleaner spreading the new puppy's leavings all over the house?In 2017 the media is full of stories about robots taking over our jobs, but how likely is that really? How will we make money in the future, and what might our jobs and workplaces look like?And how will people whose jobs are replaced survive?In this episode, Megan Whelan discusses the future of work with three knowledgeable people from AUT, Associate Professor Stephen Neville, Professor Jarrod Haar, Associate Professor Dave Parry.Jarrod Haar says there's less anxiety about robots taking people's jobs than we might otherwise think, with only about 10-15 percent of New Zealanders believing their job might be replaced.He says jobs in the service sector will be among the first to go. "I'll walk near McDonalds and it'll say 'actually, we're in the 11:30-1:30 range that Jarrod eats', and then will say 'Jarrod are you ready to put your order in?'"The store manager might be the only person actually working in a fast food restaurant, he says - and there will be an IT person who fixes the robots."We actually do need workers, and it's about re-skilling, re-training, providing people with other opportunities for employment," says Stephen Neville."If you look in terms of health, robots are already being used in residential aged care facilities - really successfully - but you still need that person-to-person contact."Where you go to work might change, though. Your office - by day - could become a bar by night. Or you could share a space."The idea of needing to go to the office in order to find out what other people are thinking and be able to collaborate, is really going to go," says Dave Parry."I don't think we will see offices as they are in the next 50 years, simply because they'll be too expensive, and people will say 'why do I have to come here when I can do the job equally well from my beach house?'"There is no doubt we're going to need people to work longer, says Stephen Neville - and that means accommodating a lot of different working styles. And having employers looking out for their employees. "Get passionate about things, and work at things you like to do and you know you're good at," says Dave Parry."Governments and society are going to hit this big issue with just simply the number people who are going to really be required."…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

This week, Great Ideas looks at the future of communication - how we'll be chatting, and what language we'll be doing it in. And could your fridge teach you te reo?In the past 20 years, the way people communicate has undergone the biggest revolution since the printing press.But how might we be talking in fifty years, and what language will be speaking?And how will we know if we're getting the information and entertainment we need?In this episode, Megan Whelan discusses the future of work with three knowledgeable people from AUT, Dr Kate Jones, Greg Treadwell, and Dr Dean Mahuta."The really big leap is away from visual communication at all, from messaging," says Greg Treadwell."I could see an implant to help us communicate," says Kate Jones. She points out that no one bats an eyelid these days over cochlear implants, or hip replacements. "I'm not so sure yet, if that could be a one on one communication, but I could see an implanting, potentially, helping us communicate, for example, with the shopping mall."For Dean Mahuta, he doesn't mind what the technology is, as long as it's in te reo. "I guess that's the new taniwha that we're fighting in terms of Māori language revitalisation, is how do we now create a household that has the Māori language in there?""Maybe we have a house where the surface of the house can speak to us - in whatever language we choose," says Kate Jones. "We can speak to the house, the house speaks to use. We know we have the technology to do that...why not have a personal intelligent wall?" Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Great Ideas looks at the future of families - with more single people, more multi-generational families, and a more multi-cultural New Zealand, what happens to our family law?Great Ideas looks at the future of families - with more single people, more multi-generational families, and a more multi-cultural New Zealand, what happens to our family law?By 2038, it's predicted that there will be more than 5.5 million people living in New Zealand.But the average size of households will decrease to 2.5 people, and people living alone will make up a quarter of households. This country has always had diverse ideas of what makes up a family - so how will that look in fifty years?Rhoda Scherman, senior lecturer in the Department of Psychology at AUT, El-Shadn Tautolo senior research fellow at AUT and Alison Cleland a senior lecturer with an interest family law and children's rights at AUT join Megan Whelan to discuss the future of the family."I think the role of families for the most part hasn't changed much; it's about growing the subsequent generations. What that looks like, how many are in the family, who that is, that's the part that differs historically and culturally." - Rhoda Scherman"Being from a collective culture having multiple groups within a family for generations contributing to raise kids is something really common." - El-Shadn TautoloThe law is always ten years behind the plot. If you're only interested in individual rights, like the parent and the child and you recognise only them, you knock out all these other people. It's no surprise that the public are very sceptical of the family courts and they don't think the family courts have done a great job - Alison Cleland"If you only look at the people who are economically supporting that child, there could be five or six people within the family doing various other things equally as important or maybe more important" - El-Shadn Tautolo"I think the fundamental shift that's going to happen with families in the future is an increase in the separation of genetic, gestational and social parenting. That is then going to create families that look very different." - Rhoda Scherman"We have a concept of adoption that's literally about babies being given to childless couples fuelled by all the negativity around single females and we just leave it at that ... it's now 12 years since the Law Commission said the Adoption Law needs to be massively changed." - Alison Cleland…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Great Ideas looks at the future of Tamaki Makaurau - its housing, its transport, its population and its health.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

In the final episode of this series, three experts discuss the future of food - whether we will all be eating crickets, what is a balanced meal anyway, and will turmeric save us all?Could science ever create the perfect food? Nutritionally sound, tasty, and filling?"We have eggs, don't we?" says AUT senior lecturer Dr Caryn Zinn.An emphatic no is professor of food science Owen Young's answer."Would we even want that? No", says associate professor of culinary arts, Dr Tracy Berno. "I think diversity - and I hate to use a bit of a cliché, is the spice of life - and I think that's actually a very good thing."Even were science to create the perfect food, people are unlikely to throw away a culture of eating together, and of enjoying food, the experts agree."We've got taste buds and flavour sensors in our nose that are absolutely fundamental to satisfaction," says Owen Young.Dr Berno references something called 'commensality' - the act of eating together, where food becomes the anchor of a social group. "You get more pleasure out of eating the food by sharing it with others. It's just absolutely integral to our experience of eating."It's really one of the things that makes us different than animals. Animals feed, we eat."What is the ideal diet? Well, opinions wildly vary, but Dr Zinn says the key is whole food. She says if people eat whole, unprocessed food, they probably eat fewer carbohydrates (and especially the bad ones), and more 'healthy' fat."I'm one of a group that thinks we've got it all wrong . You might just look at our health statistics and agree, or you might say 'no it's just because people aren't sticking to those guidelines and they're eating fast food.'"Part of the problem is 'food literacy', says Dr Berno - people don't know how to cook any more. "I think talking about cost is sort of an easy opting-out in terms of nutrition. We've lost these fundamental skills and abilities."We're into the second or third generation where people don't simply know how to cook. And I am talking about very fundamental cooking like boiling pasta."As well as cooking skills, there's also being able to navigate the world of diet and nutritional advice.Is breakfast the most important meal of the day?The French don't think so, points out Prof. Young…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details